Jeremy Mayfield finished ninth in the 2005 Chase for the Nextel Cup. Credit: Autostock

Mayfield hopes to prove detractors wrong -- again

Two-time Chaser says his team is better this time around

Jeremy Mayfield is hilarious; a prankster by nature blessed with the keen ability to correctly prioritize life, to take neither himself nor his profession too seriously.

That's not to say he doesn't care, of course. He very much cares. But his easygoing demeanor makes sternness stand out.

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It is readily apparent when Mayfield feels strongly about something, as evidenced by his reaction to the suggestion that he'll be a Chase long shot in 2006.

Remember, over the past two seasons Mayfield did something NASCAR's heaviest hitters -- namely Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Rusty Wallace, Greg Biffle and Elliott Sadler -- couldn't. He qualified for consecutive Chases.

He has every right to be miffed.

"I've got a better race team right now than I had last year," Mayfield said when asked why he should be considered a preseason Chase pick.

"Look at average finishes, average starts, laps completed. We didn't lead the most laps. We made the top 10 running like that. If we made the top 10 last year running like that, what's going to happen this year if we get just a little bit better? That's where we're at."

A viable assertion, certainly. So Mayfield feels his team is better than it was a year ago, and 15 sparkling new, race-ready Dodge Chargers are sitting idle in the shop. And the confidence is obvious.

Yet he's on few preseason top-10 lists. Including mine. Mayfield won't make the Chase this year. None of the other 2005 Chasers -- sans Rusty Wallace, of course -- will slow down any. Wallace's old ride will contend with Kurt Busch at the wheel, and the No. 97/26 team won't miss a beat with Jamie McMurray in the cockpit.

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Gordon, Earnhardt and Sadler will all be back. And rookie driver David Stremme went so far as to project that winning the 2006 Rookie of the Year would require Chase qualification. All said, more than 20 teams will vie for a playoff berth.

"It's as competitive, or more competitive now than it's ever been, for sure," Mayfield said. "The thing you've got to do is be smart on how you race. Any given week, there's 20 cars that can win for sure."

Easily.

Mayfield's team will contend for its share of wins, but will lack the consistency necessary to make the Chase. But what do I know? I didn't pick Mayfield last year, either, chose Jeff Burton instead. Chose Mayfield's teammate, Kasey Kahne, too. And McMurray and Sadler.

None qualified.

And there's the No. 19 car, consistently, methodically, quietly proving its detractors (me) wrong.

"I've done it two years in a row and I can do it again," Mayfield said. "I'm just joking, but I'm trying to make a point. We're a better race team and this year we'll show you.

"It's a tight-knit group right now. If you're going to pick us, put us at least 15th, not 18th-to-20th. I know we're quiet and don't say a whole lot, but Ray Evernham and Dodge and myself, and everybody on the 9 and 19 and 10 cars, we're going to win races and we're going to be in the top 10 in points."

Rest assured, Mayfield means what he says.

No joke.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.